Back in the seventies, radio stations in the UK had
an obligation
to limit the number of records played in any one hour. This was
known as "needle time", after the old-fashioned term
for a record player stylus, or needle. It was imposed by the
Musicians' Union as a way of ensuring income for their members.
Initially, this was not meant to line the pockets of rock
musicians, but to guarantee funding for the various orchestras
that had traditionally provided music for radio & TV in the
forties and fifties.

While some radio stations handled this by having a
certain
proportion of talk-only programmes, BBC Radio 1 needed to create
an image of being a 24-hour pop music station. Their solution was
to bring singers and bands into their studios to record tracks -
usually exactly like the versions on their records - and then
play them as "live sessions", thus managing to comply
with needle time. Usually, these sessions were specific to one
particular DJ's show and would be repeated once after original
transmission.

The BBC does still have many of these recordings.
There have been many other artists who have had CDs
released that contain material recorded in this manner. 6
Music, the BBC's digital station, played a session version
of Dream Kid twice in its first couple of months of broadcasting.
Perhaps there is a possibility that if enough people write to the
BBC, they may decide to release a CD of "SB&Q at the Beeb". One
thing they certainly have is a recording of one of the live
concerts, because it was transmitted on Radio 2 a few of years
ago. Now that really would make a great CD! Many of the following
details have
been provided by Tim Joseph, who has
proved an absolute mine of information about the band.

Slipstream,
Wild Love, Love On The Side, Arms Of Mary, Secrets, Real Love, Sailing,
Dark Powers, Doctor Dancer, When The Train Comes, I Was In Chains

Items in red are believed to be still
held by the BBC archive.

Television
Appearances:

The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver appeared
on The Basil Brush Show on 13 November, 1976, where
they performed Secrets.

In the Spring of 1977, they appeared on Jim'll Fix It,
performing If I Could
Have Your Loving. They handed over signed copies
of their albums & songbook to the fan who had requested that
Jim should "fix it" for her to meet the band and got a bottle of
whisky in return!

The band appeared on The Old Grey Whistle
Test on 4 October, 1977, presented by Bob Harris, where they
performed Ice in the Fire and Every Tear
I Cry. Also appearing were Joan Armatrading and Harry Chapin.

They also appeared on Top of the Pops
on 7 June, 1979, presented by Jimmy Saville, where they performed Easy
Come, Easy Go. Others appearing that night were The
Tourists (prior to their evolution into the Eurythmics), The Skids,
E.L.O., Elvis Costello, Linda Lewis, Roxy Music, Sister Sledge,
Blondie, Nick Lowe & Eddie Grant.

YouTube links: If a screen appears black or blank, it may be
that the video has been taken down for copyright or other reasons.

First, There was a brilliant 25 minute
Scottish Television
recording of the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver on YouTube,
recorded in their Edinburgh Gateway studios during the Slipstream tour
of 1976. However, it's now been listed as "private", so it can't be
seen. If it reappears, you will be able to see it on the link opposite.
Perhaps we collectively need to write to Scottish Television to have it
reinstated.

The songs featured were:

Slipstream
Wild Love
If I Could Have Your Loving
Sailing
Dr Dancer
When the Train Comes.

Arms of Mary, version 1

Arms of Mary, version 2

Arms of Mary, version 3

Arms of Mary, version 4

Easy Come, Easy Go on Top of the Pops, 1979

Secrets, on German TV

Every Tear I Cry on OGWT

Ice in the Fire on OGWT

Al Stewart's Year of the Cat, with Tim Renwick on
lead guitar

And
here's an absolute treat: a video made by Steve Smith of Down to the River,
one of the songs featured on Gavin's 2013 CD Tango at the Lost Cafe.

Another of Steve Smith's interpretations of a Gavin
Sutherland song, this time So
Strange, from The
Deal. which was released in 2008.

Finally,
here's a list of Sutherland Brothers (and Quiver) tunes that have been
uploaded to YouTube, but not as live performance videos. These may have
"interpretations" of the songs, with photos accompanying the music or,
less interesting, they may just have a picture of the album cover or
single throughout the entire song. I haven't embedded these, but just
listed them with a link to YouTube.